Disclaimer: I do not own Brokeback Mountain or it's wonderful characters, they are sole property of Annie Proulx and Focus Features and are used for entertainment purposes only.

A/N: Thanks so much for the feedback! Next update will be a little later, 'cause I'm heading to the beach to celebrate New Year's with my family for a week and a bit... so Happy New Year!

I dreamed a dream

Chapter 16

"Uh… hello?" Jack called out. "Anyone home?"

They were standing outside the ranch house. Jack had insisted they stop and go look at the ranch, ask for information.

'It's a signal, Ennis! The sign is there for us, we can't just drive away!'

Grumbling about signs being there for everyone, damn flighty rodeos and such, Ennis turned right into the dirt lane heading to the ranch. But, secretly, he felt like Jack did... the little town of Mayoworth had given him a good feeling and if he had to be honest, the sign made him feel just as excited.

"House ain't in the best shape." Ennis noted. Which was a slight understatement, the wooden structure was the worse for wear, the paint was peeling…

"We'll whip it right into shape, cowboy! It'll be great." answered Jack, already imagining the house after the work, as always the dreamer.

"Now if someone could come and show us the damn place." muttered Ennis.

"Good afternoon, can I help you?" asked a voice close behind them.

They both turned around to see a short, thin, blond woman, seemingly in her mid-forties.

"Good afternoon, ma'm. I'm Jack Twist, this is Ennis del Mar." Jack smiled, tipping his hat. Ennis just nodded. "We saw the sign by the freeway and we wanted to see the property."

"Well, my name is Martha Christopher." she extended her hand and shook both their hands. "And I'll be glad to show you the damn place." she continued, shooting a sly glance at Ennis.

Ennis blushed and looked down, while Jack chuckled lightly.

"I'll take you around the land first, alright? Follow me."

"Sure thing, ma'm." answered Jack, and they started walking next to Martha, looking closely at the fields, the barn, the crops.

"Now, I'll be honest with you, I ain't a real ranch expert." said Martha, ruefully shrugging her shoulders. "This was my daddy's ranch, I moved out after high school and never came back… but it's mine now, and I want to sell it. Want to make sure it stays in good hands, too."

"I understand perfectly." said Jack "Was just in the same situation myself… I know how you feel."

Martha glanced at Jack, surprised but pleased. These two cowboys seemed like very good candidates for the sale.

"Now, my dad had a hay field over here, you can see the stacks." she pointed to her left. "And he had a small herd, but we had to sell them 'cause we needed to pay for the hospital expenses, the burial…" she trailed off, looking sad. "In any case, see over there? Those were the fields for the herd, the stalls are there too."

"Good fields." said Ennis. "They have a good size, we could get a nice cow and calf operation going."

Jack smiled brilliantly, he couldn't believe Ennis remembered what he had said all those years ago, talking about the sweet life.

"And those are the horse stalls." Martha said, pointing to a wooden structure.

"It'll be great to have a place to put the horse, huh cowboy?"

Ennis nodded, a small grin on his face.

"Why don't we head back to the house, discuss things with a glass of lemonade?" Martha asked.

"Lead the way, ma'm." answered Jack, smiling with charm.

He just doesn't stop, thought Ennis fondly. Ah well, if his damn charm can get us a better deal then he better smile and wink extra hard.

They arrived to the house and sat down in the stucco chairs that were on the porch. Martha came out with a tray with glasses and a jar of lemonade.

"Lemme help with you with that." Ennis stood up and took the tray from her, placing it on the small table.

"Thank you. Let me get the papers, alrigth?" she went back into the house.

Jack leaned towards Ennis. "What'd you think, cowboy?"

"I like it… it needs hard work, but it's very promising. You rodeo?"

"I like it very much, too."

The squeak of the screen door let them know Martha was coming back, so Jack quickly retreated. Martha simply looked at them curiously before sitting down.

"Well, here is everything, the property deeds, so on and so forth."

Jack and Ennis looked over everything, pleased with the fact that everything seemed to be in order. Now, the only stone in the road was the price… if they couldn't meet it, then all their dreaming was for nothing.

"And what price are you askin'?" Jack ventured, trying to keep the slight fear from his voice.

"I looked it over with a real-estate agent… she came and looked at the property, and advised me on a good asking price…" she looked at them, eyes measuring. "Truth is, even though it's a good property, land-wise, the house and barn and such are in quite a bad shape… so this is the price I'm asking." Martha knew that from a sales point of view it was unwise to admit the flaws of the property, but she felt that they were good men, honest, hard-working. And she had to sell the ranch, she had a job back in Gillete, couldn't afford to spend more time here.

She handed a small card with a number written on it. Jack took it, hand trembling a bit and looked at the number. He fought to keep a reaction from his face. Without a comment, he passed the card to Ennis. Ennis looked at it, nodded, and gave it back to Jack.

"D'you think we could look inside the house before making a decision?" he asked. The price was perfect. It was definitely less than what they'd imagined, and he figured that they could make a substantial down-payment, pay the rest with their own work. Still, it wouldn't work to their advantage to accept immediately, they needed to haggle a bit.

"Certainly! Let's go in." Martha led the way, opening the screen door and ushering them inside.

"Here is the kitchen… that's the dining room… that's a bathroom… " she gave them a tour of the house, which was medium-sized. "It has three bedrooms, the master bedroom has it's own bathroom… here it is." she opened the door to the main bedroom, and Jack and Ennis followed her inside.

They looked around, Jack walking towards the window and suddenly coming to a sharp stop.

Ennis, intrigued, went to stand beside him and immediately knew what it was Jack was looking at.

Brokeback Mountain.

The ranch being so near the Bighorn Mountains it was obvious they'd be able to see them from a distance, but the fact that it was Brokeback the bedroom faced…

"It's perfect, Ennis." Jack breathed out, still transfixed by the view. Ennis nodded and put his hand on Jack's shoulder.

"Nice view, huh?" Martha's voice startled them out of their reverie and Ennis belatedly withdrew his hand from Jack's shoulder.

"The best." answered Jack.

"So… what do you think?"

"It's a very good property." started Jack "And you were right in saying that the house and barn aren't in the best shape… but they're solid structures, so they should be fine with some hard work."

Ennis let Jack do the talking, figured that all those years selling tractors with L.D. gave him the experience to handle this sort of thing.

"Ennis and I would keep this as a working ranch, not something else."

Martha relaxed visibly. She had been worried about some unscrupulous buyer turning the place into something like a gas station.

"Now, while we got money saved, we don't have enough to cover the full price at the moment."

Ennis wondered what Martha thought they were… he supposed that even if they tried to be discreet, it was obvious to a keen observer that they were close, and Jack was using 'we' all the time… he hoped prejudice wouldn't come into play.

"Well… how much could you pay, right now?" asked Martha.

Jack had already figured out how much they could safely offer, while keeping enough to get started. He knew it would be a close shave, but Ennis was an excellent ranch-hand, with years of experience… and Jack was damn good with animals, if he said so himself.

So he wrote down the number on the back of the card Martha had given to him and handed it to her.

Ennis and Jack waited nervously while Martha considered the number written on the card. Jack was biting his lips, tongue darting out every once in a while, and Ennis looked at him desperately whishing that either Jack would stop or Martha would leave, 'cause he was dying to kiss him. Damn fool of a tease…

Martha was deep in thought. The price Jack was offering was slightly less than what she'd asked for… but she remembered the prospective buyers she'd seen earlier this week. They had all wanted to turn the ranch into something else, convinced cattle and hay and crops couldn't make them the money they wanted. None of them had been people of the land, none of them ranchers or cowboys… and none of them had looked at the ranch like Jack and Ennis had. Martha could see that the men already loved this place. The look on their faces when they were staring out the bedroom window… it was as if they were seeing a dream come true. That was how her daddy had always looked at this place. And Martha would be damned if she was going to give this ranch to some cold business people instead of to someone who actually wanted to work this land. She felt comfortable with Jack and Ennis… they seemed like really good men, the type of people she'd be happy to befriend. And she could sense they weren't exactly friends, definitely not relatives… but what was it to her what they were? Everyone's entitled to live their own lives like they please.

She had a good job, she really didn't need the money… and she'd always regretted not sharing her father's interest in the land. This was the least she could do.

"Jack… Ennis" she turned to the expectant men. "We have a deal."

The happiness on their faces… it was indescribable. Jack laughed out loud, walked towards her and hugged her.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Christopher." he said. "I can't tell you how grateful we are."

Martha just hugged him back. She looked over his shoulder at Ennis and could see in his eyes and in his smile his love for Jack and his absolute happiness. She knew she'd made the right decision.

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"Bobby… we got a place."

"Really, daddy? Wow! So that means I can come live with you now? Oh, daddy, I miss you! I can't wait to be there."

Jack smiled at how his son sounded more like an eager six-year-old than a surly teenager.

"Yeah, son. You'll be able to come real soon, but Ennis and me gotta fix the place up a bit first, alright?"

"Ok… but I wanna decorate my room!"

"You will, you will, I promise." answered Jack, laughing.

"Mom says I have to go, it's dinnertime…" said Bobby, sounding disgruntled.

"Well, go on son, have dinner. I'll call you soon, ok?"

"Ok, daddy. Love you!"

"Love you too, Bobby."

Jack hung up and headed back towards the table were Ennis and Martha were sitting. Jack had proposed that in celebration, they all head into town and have dinner at the Blind Onion. Martha had readily agreed and Ennis had simply huffed something that sounded suspiciously like muffins, leaving Martha slightly bewildered and Jack chuckling.

"So did you tell Lureen and Bobby?" asked Ennis immediately.

"Yup. Lureen was quite happy for me, and Bobby was thrilled… he wanted to come right now, was already planning how to decorate his room…" Jack smiled fondly.

Martha was looking a bit lost, so Jack decided to elaborate. "Lureen is my ex-wife and Bobby is my son. They live down in Texas, and after the divorce Bobby decided that he wanted to come live with me once I got settled down."

"And your ex-wife is alright with that?" asked Martha, surprised.

"Well… Lureen loves Bobby but she ain't ever been the motherin' type… and she understood that Bobby was old enough to decide by himself. He's fifteen." Jack explained.

Martha nodded. "Oh, I see… and you get along well with him?"

"Yes… I'll be glad when he can finally come."

"Well hello! Isn't this a pleasant surprise!" a somewhat shrill voice interrupted their conversation. The three of them turned to see the same red-haired waitress that had served Jack and Ennis breakfast a week ago.

"Hello, Sophie! How're you this evening?" asked Jack with a smile.

"Oh, aren't you just lovely! I'm doing great now." she said, putting her hand on Jack's shoulder. "I never caught your name, sweetheart."

"Well, I'm Jack Twist, he's Ennis del Mar..."

"And I'm Martha Christopher." added Martha.

"You're not Ronald's daughter?" asked Sophie, eyes wide.

"Yes, I am."

"Oh, darling! How great to finally meet you! Ronald always went on and on about her daughter, making it big as a lawyer in the city… what brings you here?"

"Well, I came to sell the ranch."

"No! And have you sold it? To whom?"

"To us, actually." answered Jack

Sophie smiled in obvious delight. "How wonderful!"

Martha had to choke back a chuckle… Sophie was all but throwing herself on Jack's lap while Ennis looked on, a mixture of merriment and anger on his features.

"Well anyway, what can I get you three?"

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Jack and Ennis were back in the ranch that was now theirs. While it barely had any furniture, they both had equipment to sleep without a bed, and Jack had insisted on sleeping in their new home.

They were standing by the window again, looking at Brokeback Mountain in the distance, softly lit by the moonlight.

"Ennis… we're home." said Jack, voice soft and full of feeling.

"We are, Jack. We are."

And he turned to kiss Jack deeply, attempting to convey all he felt, his happiness, his love in one kiss.

Outside, the moon shone brightly and Brokeback Mountain could be seen, keeping watch.